A FEDERAL judge in California has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Google of unlawfully dominating web search on smartphones, but said the consumers should get another chance after a Washington, DC court separately ruled the tech giant spent billions to create an illegal monopoly.
US district judge Rita Lin in San Francisco on Aug 9 dismissed the consumers’ antitrust lawsuit against Google, finding they had not provided enough factual evidence showing any harm from the Alphabet unit’s market dominance.
Lin said the plaintiffs could file an amended lawsuit, citing the DC court’s blockbuster Aug 6 ruling that found Google’s exclusive contracts with Apple and other companies helped it create an illegal monopoly over search engines.
“Although these findings were made in another litigation involving different issues, they indicate that plaintiffs may be able to plausibly allege facts about consumer harm from the alleged anticompetitive effects of Google’s default agreements,” Lin wrote in her order.
Google and attorneys for the consumers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The consumers first filed their case in 2022, accusing Google of unlawfully scheming with Apple to make Google the exclusive preloaded default search engine on the iPhone maker’s devices.
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Lin dismissed an earlier version of the case based on a lack of facts. In her latest ruling, she again faulted the plaintiffs for making “conclusory” and “speculative” assertions.
“Although plaintiffs add more words to their recitation of potential harms to consumer choice, innovation, and search quality, they do not add the necessary factual allegations,” Lin wrote.
Still, the ruling could give the consumer plaintiffs some hope. Lin’s order pointed several times to aspects of US District Judge Amit Mehta’s decision last week against Google in Washington.
After a weeks-long non-jury trial, Mehta concluded Google’s billions in payments to Apple and other tech companies to be the default search engine violated antitrust law.
Google has denied the allegations in both cases, and it said it would appeal Mehta’s order.
Lin set a Sep nine deadline for the consumers to file an amended complaint. REUTERS
